


Wishing Stars

by Sagas



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Angst, Children In Danger, Gritty, Parent Death, Protective Siblings, Sans and Papyrus aren't having a good time, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underfell Sans (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25368094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagas/pseuds/Sagas
Summary: After his father's sudden disappearance, Sans has to roll up his sleeves and do what he can to provide for himself and his younger brother. But the Underground is not a forgiving place, especially for two young kids living by themselves.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	1. 1

Sans jolts up awake, his eyelights immediately darting on the bundle of blankets next to him, in the reflexive need to make sure that his little brother is right there with him. 

He sighs, taking his skull into both hands as the lingering feeling of the nightmare he just had washes away. At least Papyrus doesn’t have a hard time resting… he’s still at that age when bad thoughts don’t prevent him to fall asleep. 

The sounds coming from outside indicate that it must be early morning, and Sans is still tired, but he also needs to go find something to eat for the day. And it’s probably best to leave before Papyrus wakes up. 

He silently moves around the very limited space of their little haven and wears his shoes, then a worn out jacket he found, with a convenient hoodie to pull up and conceal his appearance; but as he’s about to teleport outside, he notices two crimson lights as Paps is sitting up and silently watching him. 

«we’re safe.» Sans says quietly. «i was just going to get something to eat.»

«Can I come with you?» Papyrus asks, because of course he would ask that. 

The older hesitates. This is precisely why he prefers to go before Paps wakes up. He can never decide if it’s safer or not, if Papyrus tags along with him or stays put. Getting food becomes harder with the smaller skeleton in tow, and Sans needs to keep eyes open for both and not just himself. But leaving Papyrus alone means someone could find him while he’s away, and Paps can’t either teleport or defend himself. 

«okay.» Sans ends up replying. «but remember, once we’re out you-»

«I do what you say, I never let go of your hand, I don’t speak to people.» Papyrus precedes him, hopping up to go get his own shoes, his face brightening up with a smile. «I know the rules.»

«you do.» Sans can’t help but smile back a little. «what if we get some sweets today?»

The other gives and affirmative sound and holds up his hand, and Sans takes it before teleporting in a nearby lane. 

They can see their hiding spot from there, a small terrace on the second floor of an abandoned building, enclosed by thick curtains. They got there with a ladder the first time, then kicked it away and from that moment on, only teleported in and out of it. Even if it’s not hard to climb… Papyrus can very well scramble in there by himself, in fact. And if a ten years old can, then it’s not the safest shelter ever. But it’s not like they can complain, there isn’t plenty of choice for two kids alone in the Underground’s capital city. 

They walk hand in hand, Papyrus’ little head perking up left and right, and they stay especially close while on the most crowded streets. 

Their day goes by pretty smoothly. There’s a spider monster who owns a bakery, and which usually gives Sans some food in exchange for delivery services. This time she also offers Papyrus a bag of candies, and the little skeleton happily takes it, this being the only detail Sans doesn’t like. 

The spider baker has a warm voice and a welcoming smile, but they can trust no one and that includes her too. 

«if i’m not around, don’t ever talk to her.» Sans tells his younger brother as they’re sitting on top of a building, sharing the food. «or to her daughter.»

«Why?» Papyrus asks, dangling his legs from the edge of the roof. «I know spider monsters are dangerous, but they won’t eat skeletons.»

«hey. i said don’t talk to them.» Sans points a finger at the younger. «you heard me. never if i’m not around.»

«But why?» The younger insists with a frown. «I already talked to the baker’s daughter today, while you were doing things… her name is Muffet, and she seems very nice. Why shouldn’t I speak to her?»

«because those spider monsters  _seem_ nice, but we don’t know if it’s true. you know what happens to people who trust strangers… they get robbed, kidnapped, dusted or all of these things. you can’t teleport away if someone tries to hurt you, so you don’t talk to people when I’m not around, and you always listen to me.» 

By the time Sans is done, he immediately feels guilty for the stern tone he used. It doesn’t happen often that he has to chastise his little brother. Up until now, Paps almost always just listened to him, trusting Sans and his teleporting ability to keep both of them safe, until their father returns from wherever he might have gone to. 

«i’m not angry at you, paps.» Sans says after a while. «it’s just what dad told us, never trust anyone but each other. we’re just doing what he said.»

«Hm.» Papyrus vaguely shrugs, looking at the street below. «When is dad coming back?»

Sans doesn’t keep a grimace, not having any idea when their only parent could return. Neither where he went, and why suddenly people started acting like he never existed. 

«soon.» He says anyway, wishing it to be true. «and i hope he has a good reason for going away like that, without telling us anything.» 

«Why did he leave?» The younger skeleton mutters. «What if the King hurt him? Dad never liked the King.»

Albeit that being true, since their father always seemed not to be fond of King Asgore, Sans doesn’t think anything like it happened. The Royal Scientist was simply there a moment, and nowhere to be found the moment later. He vanished into nothing for no reason, and that can’t be something the King did. 

«he’ll surely be back.» Sans says quietly, and mostly telling that to himself. «we just… we only have to wait. stay put and wait for him.»

Papyrus doesn’t reply and just leans against his brother’s side. 

The capital city is a big, busy place, and they both had to quickly learn which is the kind of people they need to keep away from, that they should never respond when someone calls them or tries to approach them, and that it’s safer to stay in crowded areas. 

Teleporting is the best way to keep out of troubles, and as soon as Sans sees something he doesn’t like, he shortcuts to a known location for safety. But he doesn’t know how to provide for himself and his younger sibling… he can’t know when their father is coming back, so he’s tried to sniff around and see if anyone would want to give him a job, even something very small, to at least get the both of them some food. But being only thirteen isn’t helping. “You’re too young” or “too small” are the answers he tends to get, and he’s not even confident asking. The spider lady of the bakery at least gives them something to eat in exchange for small services, and it’s better than nothing. 

«Father will surely come back.» Papyrus says after snuggling on top of him, settling down to sleep after they teleported back into their shelter. Sans nods and pulls a blanket over them both. «And when he does, we’ll tell him how good we’ve been, being safe and all. Just like he always told us.»

«yep.» The older smiles at him. «we’re making him proud, huh?»

«Hm-hm!» Papyrus smiles back. «He will surely allow us to go out more often, since we’ve been so good on our own. And we’ll do it all together, like when he brought us to the place with the talking flowers. And then I’ll ask him if I can be friends with the spider kid. And if he says yes then you’ll have been wrong, because she seems nice.»

Sans chuckles as his brother goes on listing all the things they’ll do when their father returns, and adds to the pile from time to time. They end up talking about him as if he was still there with them, and he falls asleep a little easier than usual this time.

* * *

**Notes:**

Hello! We hope you enjoyed this first mini chapter :3   
From now on you'll follow UF!Sans and UF!Papyrus find their way through the busy streets of the Capital. We'll post the second chapter very soon, in the meantime you can go to check our [DeviantArt page](https://www.deviantart.com/s-e-sagas) :)


	2. 2

In the following days, Sans keeps bringing the younger along and hanging around the bakery, and eventually has to relent as Papyrus keeps interacting with the baker’s daughter, whether Sans is there or not. It doesn’t really matter if Sans threatens to leave him at the shelter if he doesn’t comply with the rules; Paps argues that he knows what he’s doing, that “his spider friend” is nice, and Sans doesn’t have it in him, to leave the younger skeleton alone for the whole day. 

Also Sans is afraid that if left by himself, Papyrus would not stay put and go wander around. Day after day he grows more confident with the city and its buzzing streets, and acts less like a scared kid, smiling at people while they walk around and pointing at things to ask what they are. 

Sans not often can answer him, as he has no idea for the most part. And he doesn’t know how to make Papyrus understand that they still need to be careful… the fact that they’re becoming accustomed to how the capital works doesn’t mean it’s getting any safer. They’re still two kids, Sans’ teleporting ability being their only defense. 

That is proven right around a month later. The day is particularly hot but the brothers aren’t much bothered, being skeletons, and they go for their stroll as normal. Other monsters however are more affected, and the streets are a lot less packed than usual. 

When they arrive at the spider bakery, Sans can see on the spot that there’s something wrong. A group of fire creatures surrounds the entrance, and noises of broken glass come from inside. 

Those are not customers, especially because there’s a “closed” sign hanging from the doorknob. 

«What’s going on?» Papyrus asks, squeezing his brother’s hand. 

Sans just squeezes back, not knowing what to say. He’s sure it’s not good, but to what it is, he has no idea. Teleporting away seems a good idea, especially so because one of the fire monsters seems to be looking in their direction, and the street is empty aside for them.

«Brother…» Papyrus calls again, but whatever he wanted to say is cut by a terrified scream coming from inside the bakery. 

Sans instinctively steps back, dragging the other along, but there’s some resistance on Papyrus’ part. 

«It was Muffet’s voice!» He protests, tugging on his brother’s arm. «Something bad is happening, we need to go help her!»

«paps, don’t-»

«What you need to do is mind your own business.» A fire monster interrupts, the one which was already looking in their direction. «Scram.»

Sans thinks about teleporting here and there, but he just pulls Papyrus while backing away. He doesn’t want to use his shortcut ability right in front of others, teleporting only when he thinks no one sees them. He has the impression that keeping it hidden provides him some kind of advantage.

«We can’t go away!» Papyrus yells at him. «Sans, we need to do something, these are bad people…»

«quiet!» He hisses, now basically dragging the other into a lane, and teleporting only when he thinks they’re out of sight. 

They reappear in their shelter, and now Papyrus is looking at him with an almost incredulous expression.

«I can’t believe you did that!» He shouts, flailing both arms to his sides. «The spiders helped us for all these days, and now they needed us and you-»

«we can’t do that!» Sans interrupts, shouting as well. «we’re going to the royal guard, we’ll find them near father’s lab, I know they have a post there. we’ll tell them so they will help, but we can do nothing by ourselves.»

Papyrus pouts but doesn’t reply, just holds out his hand, taking it for granted that Sans is going to bring him along. And since he’s absolutely not letting his brother alone right now, the older huffs and grabs it, teleporting to a familiar spot close to the lab. 

They’re pretty far from the city right now, but hopefully the guards will make it quick. He gives one single look of longing to his lost home, then hurries while pulling Papyrus along, and they end up almost running. There are only two guards, helmets off and looking like they’re suffering from the intense heat.  
«Something bad is happening in the capital!» Papyrus yells first, almost jumping up to get their attention. «Bad people are hurting monsters, you need to go stop them!»

«It’s true.» Sans backs up as the guards glance in their direction. «A group of fire monsters is hurting the owner of the Spider Bakery. We heard screams from inside, and they threatened us to make us go away.»

«And you kids ran all the way here from the capital…?» One of the guards comments with an almost amused tone. «They must be already done and gone by now.»

«no, they…» Sans almost stutters. That isn’t the answer he was expecting to hear. «they’re still… i mean…»

«You look familiar.» The other guard frowns at them. «There aren’t monsters like you around, so it’s easy to tell… you were the kids squatting in the empty lab.»

«squatting…?» Sans blinks, not knowing what that even means. 

They got kicked out from the lab, Papyrus and him, a couple of days after their father disappeared. He remembers it very well… armed guards arrived and told them to go away, treating both like criminals. The brothers argued that they were the Royal Scientist’s children, then asked to see the King, since their father knew him, but the guards laughed on their faces. 

«Hey!» Papyrus steps forward, little fists clenched on his sides. «We told you that there are bad people hurting innocent monsters. Why are you still here? Why aren’t you doing your job?»

Surprisingly, the two guards exchange a glance and then burst out laughing. 

«There’s nothing funny about this!» The little skeleton protests, Sans quickly skipping next to him to grab his hand and prevent him from doing something reckless. 

«Kid, we don’t get paid enough to stop the mob from collecting protection money.» One of them replies, giving him an almost soft look. «I appreciate the spirit, though. The Royal Guard would make great use of your temper… come join recruits when you stop being a twig.»

«What does it mean…?» Papyrus looks at them then at his brother, clear confusion in his eyelights. «What’s a… protection money? I don’t get it. People are being hurt, why won’t you do something?»

«You should really ask your parents.» The guard replies while wiping sweat from the fur on this head. «Come on now, kids. Leave us in peace and go play somewhere else. And you better stay away from the Fire Mob while you’re at it… just the fact that you reported their activity to the Royal Guard could get you dusted.»

«But…»

«let’s just go.» Sans tugs his brother’s arm a little. «c’mon, bro.»

Papyrus doesn’t protest. He lets the other pull him away, and doesn’t even question where they’re going. 

«Why didn’t you try convincing them…?» He eventually asks, looking down as they’re both sitting close to a lava pit, the place being far too hot for people to stop around there.

«it was no use.» Sans replies with a low tone, shrugging as he hugs knees to his chest. «i thought… i hoped… they would help. it should be their job. but you heard them, there was no way to convince them.»

«But you didn’t even  _try!_ » Papyrus replies, his tiny eyelights burning in the sockets. «You’re good with words, you’re good at talking to people. You could’ve tried telling them that it was the right thing to do, and… and maybe they would’ve done it!»

«i don’t even know what “squatting” means.» Sans mutters. «i didn’t know what to say… they don’t want to do it, and they won’t. that’s about it.»

«Then let’s go back there.» The younger hops up and holds his hand out. «If the guards won’t do anything, then we will.»

«papyrus, we cannot FIGHT.» Sans replies, this time frowning. «we’re-»

«We won’t do any FIGHT.» Paps interrupts, his arm still outstretched. «We’ll just talk to them and see if we can convince them to stop. And if we can’t, we’ll just leave. Please brother, please… at least we must try. If nothing works we run away with your shortcuts, and take the spiders with us.»

Sans cringes and doesn’t even hide it. He’s trying not to think about what’s happening to the spider monster and her child, especially because it’s true that they helped them, and he should at least try to do something in return. 

He stands up and takes in a long breath, holding his brother’s hand with a nod. 

«alright. you let me do the thing, okay? you just stay close to me.»

Papyrus nods back, but Sans isn’t satisfied. 

«promise?» He asks. «if you don’t, we’re not going.»

«I promise.» 

As soon as he prepares his shortcut, he already begins to regret his decision. He only has one HP, anything which goes wrong could get him killed. And Papyrus would be alone. And what if for whatever reason his shortcuts don’t work, and they don’t manage to run in time…? Or Papyrus does something careless and gets hurt, or worse?

But as soon as they peek out the lane to get a view of the bakery, it seems like no one is there. The street is silent and the place looks empty… the windows of the shop are broken and the door is out of its hinges, but there doesn’t seem to be any fire monster. 

They carefully approach, being as silent as possible, and as soon as they can see inside, Sans realizes there are just the spider and her child. Little Muffet is crying and her mother seems to be comforting her, and luckily they’re alive, just look beaten up. 

Sans accidentally steps on broken glass and the sound has both of them look up, all their eyes wide, but the baker sighs in evident relief upon recognizing them. 

They help her how they can, cleaning the shop a little, and get to know what “protection money” means. If a shop or an activity of any kind wants to stay open in the capital, the owner has to pay a monthly sum to some “mob people”, otherwise things like these happen… or even worse, as according to the spider monster, they’ve even been lucky. None of them got dusted, and that’s already something. 

«I can’t stay in the capital any longer.» She eventually tells Sans, after giving both the brothers something to eat to thank them for the help. «Here is too dangerous, and the taxes too expensive… and you’d better take your brother and go away too, little one. I heard those goons speaking about two young monsters of a specie they never saw, and that “it was a shame they let them go”. I think they were talking about you two. If you want to be safe, you’d better run from Hotland and go as far as you can, before they track you down.»

Sans blinks, glancing towards Papyrus which is sitting apart with Muffet, and they seem to be talking to each other. 

«I don’t understand…» He admits, playing with his half eaten cupcake. «What do they want from us? We went away when they told us to, and… I mean… I’m sorry we didn’t do anything. We should have…»

«You did the right thing.» She gently squeezes his shoulder with a smile. «The world is a grim place, dearie. There are a lot of unfair things, and you learn to accept them if you want to stay safe. For your own sake, and your little brother’s too.»

The skeleton gets a sudden rush of guilt at those words. He feels similar to those guards, which refused to even try and help innocent people. 

«Anyhow, I don’t know why they were interested in you two…» She resumes. «but it’s probably because you’re strange. You are indeed a kind of monster I’ve never seen, and that probably picked their interest. So heed my warning and go away from here… I’d bring you with me, but I can’t provide for you two and my daughter, and we’ll be on the run. I have some friends in Hotland which might agree to shelter us for a while, but they wouldn’t do the same for strangers. I’m sorry.»

«It’s okay.» Sans tries his best to smile at her. «Me and Paps, we can take care of ourselves. We’ll just… we’ll go to Waterfall. Fire monsters don’t like it there, so we’ll be safe.»


	3. 3

The idea of leaving Hotland isn’t an easy one to consider. 

They’re just beginning to get familiar with that place, and this feels particularly important to Sans, which can only teleport in places he’s already seen and he’s accustomed to. In the capital city he has his hiding spots and his shelters for when he needs out, and this wouldn’t count for anywhere else in the Underground… surely not for Waterfall, which is twice as big as Hotland and completely unknown to them, except for that one place they visited with their father, more than a year before. 

Moreover, going further away from the Royal Palace means they’ll get even less chances to speak with the King, and tell him there has been a huge misunderstanding… Sans has yet to comprehend why people behave as if the Royal Scientist never existed, not believing them when they say they are his children, most of them replying that “there has never been a Royal Scientist to begin with”. It makes no sense, but the King  _must_ remember about their father, and maybe he would recognize them too. Sans recalls him as being a huge monster with black horns and a white fur, not much else, but it’s something. 

And lastly, even if they’ve been chased away from their lab-house, Hotland still holds a feeling like home. It hurts just thinking about going away. 

Sans hasn’t spoken about it with Papyrus yet. He doesn’t know how to put it, with his little brother. He knows Paps won’t agree with leaving… or maybe he hopes that the younger won’t, because Sans can’t decide for himself, and if Papyrus says it would be safer to go away, then he won’t be able to argue over it. 

Some days passed since the incident anyway, and nothing relevant happened except that the spider monsters left, leaving the shop broken and empty. It feels wrong that the friendly baker had to rush away with her child, and Sans knows they’ll miss her pastries, even more so because now he has no idea where to go for food, if stealing here and there fails. 

Papyrus is clearly downcast too, Sans having no idea how to cheer him up. Coming up with some ideas to go meet the King would be a start. The older is actually considering to give a try to sneak into the Royal Palace, but he knows he needs a proper plan for that.

The fifth day after the bakery incident, Sans has to stay out looking for food long after Papyrus started yawning, his eyes dropping closed at every step. He teleports him to their shelter, bids him goodnight and goes out again, racking his skull to figure out how to find something to eat. 

Heat doesn’t stop rising, affecting them too even if they’re made of not much sensitive bones, and there aren’t monsters around. Sans is starting to think that there’s something wrong with the machine which cools air in Hotland, even more so because a lot of buildings have no electricity. 

He remembers his father telling him that it’s the CORE which provides energy to the whole Underground, but it’s very unstable and needs to be shut down if something looks dangerous. Maybe the new people in the lab, other scientists which went there after the brothers were sent away, don’t know how to make the CORE work properly. 

Tired and hungry as he is, Sans ends up teleporting into a closed shop to steal food from behind the counter. He’s been there before, and exactly for that purpose; if everything else fails he shoplifts, an since there’s no power in that section of the capital, there are no alarms of sort going off. 

Sans stays there less than a minute anyway, stuffing packed food in his pockets and then teleports away. As soon as he’s in one of his preferred lanes he exhales in relief, sits against the wall and eats something, immediately feeling better after a little boost of energy. 

Papyrus will be starving as soon as he wakes up, so Sans saves the rest of his bounty to share it later. He needs to sleep too after all, and with a yawn he teleports again, this time to their little haven. 

Every semblance of tiredness disappears as he realizes that Papyrus isn’t there. Sans freezes in place, his only functioning eyelight darting around to take in the surroundings, as if he could spot his brother in a corner. 

The blankets are scattered around, meaning the little skeleton threw them away in a hurry. There are also his shoes there, and Papyrus wouldn’t get out barefoot, there’s no reason why he would. 

Sans pulls himself together as best he can and searches the room more closely for traces of dust. He’s never seen monster dust, but he’s sure he would recognize it, and it’s with shaky hands and hitched breath that he lifts the blankets and scans the corners… but there’s nothing which signals that Papyrus suddenly dusted, and the realization gives Sans a momentary relief. 

He needs to think. Paps could’ve just climbed to the roof to get some air, as it is suffocating in there, and not bothered to get his shoes. If that is so, Sans will be yelling at him so much the whole Underground will hear him. 

He shortcuts on top of the small building and looks around, eyesockets so wide they almost hurt. No, Papyrus isn’t there… but from the high spot, the skeleton can clearly see that in the street down below, there is a small group of…

Fire monsters. There are fire monsters, the same kind which caused the bakery incident. They’re moving around a corner and he quickly loses sight of them, so he teleports on top of another building in sight and looks down, jaw clenched to avoid shouting at them. It’s best he follows without being spotted. 

He can see them better now. It’s three of them, one made of bright azure flames and the others a yellowish red. And there’s Papyrus with them. 

«Where are we going…?» The skeleton asks in a small voice, trying to look at the face of one of them. «Please, can we stop?»

There’s no answer, but after moving around a corner the small group stops, and Papyrus’ wrist is let go. He looks around anxiously, noticing he can’t see his shelter from there, but they can’t be too far from it either. 

«Are you afraid, little one?» One of the monsters ask, a fire lady made of blue licks of flame, crouching before him. «It’s okay, you won’t be hurt. There’s someone who wants to meet you, and we’re bringing you to them.»

«But why?» Papyrus insists. «I just want to get back to my brother.»

«Of course. It would be better if he was with us now, yes?» The fire lady smiles, but the skeleton isn’t much reassured. «What’s your name?»

«I’m not supposed to tell, you’re a stranger.» He protests, crossing arms on his chest. «And I don’t like you. I don’t want to go with you. You’re bad people, I heard you hurting my friends at the Spider Bakery.»

«Now, now. If you behave I’ll go look for your brother, and we can bring him along.»

«We were told to fetch at least one of them, there’s no need to get his brother too.» Another fire monster intervenes. «It’s not our business to find out their names or what they are, let’s just get the job done.»

«There’s no need to scare him like that.» She observes, side eyeing the other. «I’m sure this child and his sibling would prefer to stay in a nice place, sleep on a nice bed, and eat real food. What do you say?» She looks at Papyrus again. «Wouldn’t you like that?»

«I…» Papyrus is tempted to back away, but there’s nowhere to run since they’re pretty much surrounding him. He would obviously like to sleep in a bed and eat cooked food, but he doesn’t want to go with them. Neither he wants these people to get to Sans. «I want to go home. Can I please go home?»

They don’t answer him, exchanging words with one another, and Papyrus doesn’t listen. He tries to take a running start going past the fire lady, but she quickly grabs his shirt and pulls him in place. 

«Alright, it’s better if I knock him out. We got a long way to go and he doesn’t seem compliant.» She says as the little skeleton tries to squirm and bite. «Lead the way, I’ll carry him.»

«No, let me go!» Papyrus yells, and his magic instinctively flares up, tiny bones flying towards the other. 

He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, neither how it is that instead of just bone attacks, there’s a white beam going over his head and hitting the fire monster in the chest. She loses grip on him and Papyrus falls sat with a yelp, trying to scramble up to his feet as quickly as he can. 

He realizes that Sans is there, right beside him, his left eyelight burning so bright it matches the other monsters’ flames. His blaster hovers upon them and a moment later it shoots another beam, everything happening so quickly that the fire monsters don’t seem to understand… they shout at each other and attack the blaster, seeming to mistake it for a living thing. 

Sans grabs the younger’s shoulder and teleports, but they don’t appear in their usual shelter. The place is familiar nonetheless, and Papyrus recognizes a room of the lab where they grew up.

«Brother!» He calls, the older covering his left eyesocket with a whimper. 

«it’s okay.» Sans replies, pulling him into a hug. «i’m okay. we’re okay.»

«I’m sorry, I…» Papyrus hugs him back, his little SOUL thumping against the ribcage. «It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have… I had to stay put, but they found me in the shelter and I didn’t know what to do, I tried talking to them but they said I wouldn’t get hurt if I was quiet, but I got afraid and tried to run, and then… and…»

«shush.» 

«I didn’t know what to do.» He hides into his Sans’ chest, and realizes his brother is shaking. «I didn’t want to get us in trouble, but now…»

«it’s not your fault.»

The older sounds like he’s going to cry, and Papyrus fears he’s somehow gotten hurt. He doesn’t know how to check him so he asks again, and Sans reassures him he’s fine, even if his left eyelight is all blurry and he looks exhausted. 

«Why are we in the lab…?» Papyrus asks when he feels calm enough, cautiously looking around as they’re sitting against the wall, hidden in the cramped space between two huge pieces of machinery. «We can’t stay here… if the scientists find us they’ll call the guards.»

«yeah i know…» The other leans his back against the wall with a sigh. «i just thought of a safe place when i teleported, and those thugs won’t find us here. we’ll get away soon, and we’ll leave hotland. we can’t stay.»

«Leave Hotland? To where?» Papyrus blinks at him. «Is it… just because of these fire monsters?»

«they know our hiding spot. they prolly been watching us these days, and somehow tracked us down…» Sans sighs again, then gestures him and Papyrus goes curl up against his side. «you remember how father told us that there are no skeletons in the whole monster kingdom, just us? those people… they must’ve gotten curious with us. and now they saw a blaster, which father said is a special kind of magic which nobody has. they also saw me use a shortcut.» 

Papyrus frowns, thinking about it for a moment. 

«Then that’s why they wanted me to follow them…? Because I’m a skeleton?»

«i dunno what they wanted. and i don’t wanna know.»

Papyrus doesn’t reply, but he doesn’t completely understand either. Sans holds him against his chest so tight it’s uncomfortable, and the youngers squirms until he can properly settle down, head rested on the crook of his brother’s neck. 

It finally strikes him that Sans used his most powerful attack against people. Real people, which got hurt. And not under their father’s supervision which always kept his magic output in check, since Sans is delicate and using his abilities wrong could seriously hurt him. 

The memory of the fire lady’s scream rings in his ears. He doesn’t know how much damage Sans managed to deal, but she was clearly hurt… surely not dead anyway. Papyrus didn’t see her dust, and the second beam didn’t hit anyone. 

The idea that someone could’ve gotten killed makes him shiver. He attacked too at some point, but it was out of instinct and not because he wanted to hurt those monsters… he only wanted to be left alone. 

He doesn’t feel like sleeping, albeit his brother is so tired he is drifting off already, still he stays there and snuggles as close as possible. He keeps Sans’ temperature in check, and wipes away the red droplets of magic which at times leak from his closed eyesocket. 

Papyrus realizes now that they really risked to be hurt, separated, even to die. He shivers again, grabbing the older skeleton’s jacket as if afraid he could slip away from him, and thinks that it really is a good idea to leave Hotland. Maybe the next place will be better. Maybe there won’t be bad people, and they will be left in peace.


	4. Chapter 4

Waterfall sucks.

It’s wet, it’s muddy, and it’s a mess of dangerous creatures lurking around,  some of them barely sentient . When they are sentient it’s even worse, since they’re usually hunting for some easy EXP. And for whatever reason, Papyrus loves to hang around th at place, relying on Sans’ ability to avoid trouble with a simple shortcut. 

He particularly insists every time he finds out the older is heading to the garbage dump. Sans lost count of the many times they ended up fighting about it, because Paps won’t stop bugging  him until  he gives in and lets the younger tag along . And overall he’s been arguing a lot with his brother… a lot more than he likes to admit. 

He doesn’t keep up with Papyrus’ growth and need to learn things for himself, and doesn’t know what to do with him except providing food and shelter. It feels almost like back when they were children, quarreling over what game to play or how to spend time in the vast rooms of their father’s lab, except now the stakes are much higher. Sans can’t just  roll up his eyelights and  indulge his moody baby brother.

Today’s been a long one too. Sans had to scavenge  for useful stuff , then go to that disgraceful village to try and sell some scraps, and maybe get a commission or two. He doesn’t like to deal with those  cat monsters and their traffics, but being a very fast dealer had him earn their boss’ liking, which is a good thing; Temmies are sly tiny creatures with their fair share of knowledge of the Underground and its denizens, and the richest and most proficient criminal organization of the kingdom. And the black cat they call Mamie Tem did  eventually give him a job for the next day, which will earn him good money if it goes well. 

Sans is still considered a kid by pretty much everyone, but she and other Temmies don’t care. And surely they don’t give a damn about him being “a strange monster”, as those firelings in Hotland instead seemed to think of him, wanting who knows what from him and Papyrus. To this da y Sans is glad he never found out, especially so when he realized there are illegal slave markets in the Underground, and places where one can pay a fee to kill a defenseless monster, in order to gain some easy Execution Points.

When he finally gets home, he’s drained. They’re currently living in a cavern not far from a literal waterfall, away from the swamp and hard to find if one doesn’t stumble on it by accident.

He finds Papyrus with a bone in hand, a ridiculously big thing for a twelve years old, training against a stalagmite. He isn’t doing it like a skeleton would, instead he wields the attack as if it was a spear or something, circling the rock formation. 

«what’cha doing there?» Sans asks with a smirk. «that thing ain’t a training dummy.»

The younger  flinches as if something stung him, eyelights flashing over him and bone disappearing from his hand. A blush creeping on his cheekbones is pretty telling on how he’s feeling right now. 

«’s okay.» Sans shrugs. «glad to see y ou exercise, actually. the sooner y’learn to defend yourself, the better.»

«You shouldn’t talk like this, brother.» Papyrus replies in an obvious attempt to change the subject, and goes sitting before him. «You picked up a very messy  speaking fashion as of lately. What would father say if he heard you…?»

«who cares…» The older sits down as well, putting the bag of food he collected between them. «he ain’t hearin’ me now. and if he is, well, screw him. it’s his fault for leaving, if he stayed i’d be talking like the fucking crown prince of the underground.»

He can tell by his brother’s expression that he shouldn’t have said that. Papyrus looks down and shrinks between his shoulders, muttering something that sounds like “I still hope he’s going to come back”, and Sans regrets very much to have spoken that way. He’s lost hope to see their parent again for a while now, but Papyrus still believes there’s a chance he’ll eventually come back, even if the whole world behaves as if the former Royal Scientist never even existed. 

They can’t even pronounce his name out loud. It feels hard to describe how  h e looked like, even if Sans is sure he remembers his father’s face. Whatever happened to him, it’s as if he got erased from reality  itself .

«hey.» He calls, but Papyrus doesn’t look up, apparently interested in some gravel he’s playing with. «wanna eat something? i found chocolate bars wrapped in plastic… probably someone’s  dropped their  snack.»

«Hm-hm.» The younger scoots closer to him, holding up a palm. «Did you go to the garbage dump again? It’s usually there that you find chocolate.»

«well, um…» Sans feels caught red handed. «…yeah. it wasn’t planned, tho. i went to temmie village and sort of stopped there, but just for a couple minutes.»

«It’s okay.» Papyrus shrugs and unwraps the bar he just got given. «I know you can’t always take me with you. But can we go together sometimes? I like that place.»

As to why he does so much, Sans has no idea. But he nods anyway, finding it difficult to say no to his little brother. 

«And can you show me the Temmie Village too?» Papyrus insists, smiling as he clearly  felt bolstered by the concession. «I promise I’ll-»

«no.» The older frowns, this time knowing he’s not going to relent. «that place ain’t for kids.  t here be people i don’t want you to be around, not now and not ever. and this is final.»

«But I can help you. I’m not a child anymore, I’m almost your age when we left Hotland… I could-»

«papyrus, i said  _no._ » Sans points a finger at him, and the younger visibly pouts. «and i’m not even taking you to the  damn  dump if you insist.»

Papyrus clicks his teeth in an annoyed sound which is so uncharacteristic for his young age, takes some food from the bag and eats in silence, scooting away from his brother. 

Sans presses a hand to his eyesockets, drawing in a deep breath. He can’t  even bear the idea of Papyrus hanging around that cesspool of drugs and weirdos, not wh ile he can’t even properly defend himself. They’re training with blue magic lately, when Sans gets some time for that, and Paps is growing more confident with his abilities… but the older isn’t. It’s too soon. Papyrus doesn’t even have full developed fangs on his maxilla, people around would assume he’s a defenseless child unless they’re proved wrong, and Sans doesn’t absolutely want Papyrus to need to prove  them wrong like that . 

«I’m no t a child anymore, brother.» The younger observes after some time they’ve been in silence. «I want to stay with you more. I want to go around… I can’t be hidden in caves forever while you  provide for both of us . Let me help you. If things go wrong you can always teleport away, you did it many times already.»

Sans wishes it was simple as that. He already has a hard time leaving the younger alone for many hours a day, bringing him along would be ten times worse. Plus, he doesn’t want Papyrus to see him engaging in… things. Things he doesn’t like doing, like dealing drugs, stealing and mugging and getting chummy with criminals. 

«when you master blue magic, i’ll bring you to temmie village.» He says instead. «how’s that sound?»

«Why blue magic…?» Papyrus turns towards him with a curious look. «I can already use bone attacks. Isn’t that enough?»

«i’ve still not ever seen ya summon a blaster.» Sans replies with a wink, and the younger pouts again. 

«Well, I didn’t have father teaching me every step of the way!»

«’course not, but it’s okay.» He pats  Payrus’ back a little, having him huff. «imma teach you to summon blasters too, after the blue magic. but the gravity pull helps you a great deal… ya know, someone  starts being an ass , ya slam them into a wall and give ‘em a good scare. usually it ends the FIGHT quickly, demonstrating you’re not some free piece of EXP… most of them don’t consider it worth the trouble.»

It’s true. Sans uses that trick when necessary, and as no monster possesses blue magic beside skeletons, it’s quite the impressive feat for when people get too bossy with him. He might be still the size of a preteen and not possessing any threatening features, small as he is, but the gravity pull is scary nonetheless. 

«and when you get to the blasters, then you’re done.» He insists, Papyrus glancing at him again. «those who don’t relent with blue magic, they get  _very_ scared of a huge floating skull growling at them. ya remember that guy with a fish tail, yes? he screamed like a babybones when i pulled a blaster on him, and i had barely even summoned it.»

The younger smiles a little, nodding. 

«He ran away like he heard the Void talking to him.» Says then. «Yelling something about ghosts and demons. It was fun.»

«you bet it was.» Sans smiles back. «as soon as you master blue magic, you start helping me around. okay?»

«Okay. But teach me then, you always say you’re tired when I ask!»

«heh, sorry bro… you know i don’t have much stamina to begin with. what about tomorrow?»

Papyrus bit e s back a retort and just nods, knowing he’s not getting any more than that for the moment. And he doesn’t want to insist too much as Sans is clearly tired, his eyesockets circled and droopy, and there’s a bruise on his right cheekbone. 

The younger noticed it immediately but decided not to point it out, knowing it would get dismissed as an accident of sorts. It’s not the first time it happens… Sans teleports out of troubles every time he needs to, but Papyrus is sure the older is keeping things hidden from him. He often has scratches and nicks here and there, and if Papyrus doesn’t addresses their presence, he doesn’t even mention them.

That’s the main reason why Papyrus wants to be brought along, and to that Temmie Village place. He wants to make sure nothing bad happens to his brother. 

He would follow Sans there, but the older found the place on his own and teleported in and out of it from that moment on, so Papyrus can’t even guess where it is. Waterfall is huge. Nonetheless, he feels old and knowledgeable enough to stand up for himself by now; he’s no child anymore, he reached Sans in height and he feels a lot stronger than before.

The older takes very little time to fall asleep after a couple of bites out of a scrawny crab apple, not even minding to take off jacket and shoes as he dozes off while leaning against the wall. Papyrus goes take a blanket and wraps it around him, then guides him down and Sans opens his sockets for a moment, but then goes back asleep. The younger is not sleepy in the slightest, though… it’s not like he has much to do to keep himself occupied while his brother is away, so he ends up finishing the worn out book he was reading, then lies down next to Sans and huffs his frustration. 

They draped cloths on the cavern’s walls to make it look more comfortable, and furnished it with pieces of broken junk found at the garbage dump. It’s better than any place they’ve been so far, beside the real home they had with their father, but Papyrus would very much like to have a proper house. A place which he could call home, with something more akin to a bed, which doesn’t smell of moss and has a kitchen… the books they found in the dump lately are all about cooking, and the young skeleton often thinks about making those meals on a stove, with pots, not having to eat scraps and raw pieces of food.

He ends up drifting off to sleep, and when he wakes up again, the older isn’t there.

He huffs a little and stretches, his shoulders popping, then goes to the outer part of the cave to train for a while. He didn’t tell Sans, but he’s been sneaking out from time to time to go see monsters training together, not far from the garbage dump… there’s one of them, a girl with red hair and an eyepatch, which looks particularly strong. Papyrus saw her summon crimson spears and perform incredible attacks on training dummies. 

He imagines that the stalagmite before him is a dummy of that kind, and tries to mimic what he saw that lady do with spears, all of them flashing around and hitting the target one by one, until it got completely shredded. He lifts up a hand and frowns, summoning bones all around and having them rain down on the stone formation; they hit it with snapping noises, but at some point there’s a loud crack and Papyrus’ sockets snap open, having him realize the stalagmite is broken in two. 

He widens his eyes, backing away a little. The stalagmite’s upper part is completely crumbled, pieces of it scattered around, and he feels almost tempted to pick them up and try to put them back together. 

He draws in a deep breath, he’ll have to be careful with that. An attack of that kind could seriously hurt someone, especially if he doesn’t keep the damage input in check. What if Sans suddenly returned, teleporting into the room? He risked getting hit, and a single blow would dust him. 

The thought makes Papyrus shiver from skull to toes. His brother has only one HP, he knows very well, and he learned not to deal damage with his attacks back when he was babybones. But now he wasn’t keeping careful in the slightest. 

He’s not doing it anymore except with damageless attacks, that’s for sure. And now he’s too fidgety to sit down and do anything, but neither he wants to keep using his magic. He ends up climbing the side of the rock wall out of the cavern to wander around a little; there’s nobody around there ever, so it’s not going to be dangerous. 

Almost three entire days passed, and Sans is yet to return. 

Papyrus took various strolls,  trained by himself, cleaned the entirety of the small cave which serves as their home .  He also sewed up all the ripped clothes he could find and explored the small pools in search of something useful. And ended up feeling more and more antsy.

He knows that if something happened to Sans, he will never know for sure. Just like it happened with their father. The thought has him  clench his jaw and hug knees to  the chest. He tells himself that Sans might be fragile but he’s strong, and also very smart. He wouldn’t let bad things happen.  H e wouldn’t leave him alone. 

He hears a noise and jumps up to his feet, but it’s just some small rocks rolling down the side of the wall. His SOUL clenches at the realization that his brother hasn’t returned yet, and he has to try his best to swallow down tears. 

Time passes and the young skeleton flinches and looks around at every minimal sound, feeling more and more compelled to go look for the older. He tries thinking of something to keep his thought s off of  potentially horrible scenarios , but it’s not like he has many things to do.

Eventually he stands up, deciding to at least try  and go look at the garbage dump to see if Sans is there. He knows the way,  it’s not like he’s going to get lost or anything. 


End file.
